Almost nine months after he first asked White House officials for access to federal terrorist watch lists to prevent suspects from purchasing firearms in Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy seems to have lost hope.

Malloy told reporters Tuesday that he thinks the federal government is “looking for precedent to allow us to do it; they have as of yet not found it.”

At this point, it appears unlikely that the White House will approve Connecticut’s request.

“I think that the question is as the legislation was drafted allowing for the existence of such a list, was it intended to limit the terrorists from buying guns? Not because anyone was advocating that terrorist be allowed to buy guns, but because it wasn’t envisioned as a question at that point,” Malloy said.

Malloy first proposed the measure in December 2015, after the U.S. Senate failed to pass a similar measure to block firearm sales to suspected terrorists.

U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy again voiced their own support for “no fly, no buy” legislation after the mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub in June. Murphy led a 15-hour-long filibuster in the Senate last month to force a failed vote on a “no fly, no buy” measure, and Democrats in the House of Representatives staged a 25 hour sit-in for a similar vote.